“Yo, blackie, you see the golden lady with the nice tits, she’s talking so you should-”
Abruptly Olena turned away from Nameless and swooped towards the Gigas.
There was no other word for it, she swooped.
She rapidly moved forwards while bending at the waist until her face was right in front of Nina’s, rocking the giant back on her heels.
Her glowing green eyes darted back and forth between Nina’s, and oddly the Gigas began to faintly tremble.
They held that pose for several seconds, until Olena turned back to Nameless and seized him by the arm, turning his wrist as she examined his bracer.
“An interesting charm, but where did you get it?” She asked him intently.
He didn’t try to pull his arm free, though his posture definitely became defensive.
“It was a gift from a friend.”
“This... friend, was she a Witch that didn’t like you? Or was it someone else, someone who maybe had a series of misfortune befall them all at once before they parted with it?”
“What? No!”
“Hmmm.” She pursed her lips and released him.
“What is this all about?”
“There is a curse upon this object.” The Witch stated simply.
His jaw fell open and he looked at the bracer as if he had just discovered it was made of spiders.
“The h-hell are you talking about lady?” Nina asked, displaying uncharacteristic hesitance in the face of the other monster girl.
“Just as I said. A curse. Pay it no mind.”
Erica’s tail had puffed up at the dire words.
“Pay it no- how are we supposed to ignore something like that?!”
Olena sighed.
“When it comes to curses, intent is everything. For what purpose do you wear this bracer?”
“To protect the hearts of monster girls.” Nameless said immediately.
“Not to enslave them?”
“Of course not!”
“Then as I said, pay it no mind.”
“But... a curse?” Ophelia asked nervously.
Her heartstone was set in one of the bracer’s indentations; after their apartment was destroyed she had taken it out of her teddy bear in order to avoid getting separated from it again.
“Don’t concern yourselves with it, it will only trigger on those that deserve it.”
“Deserve it according to whom?” Volka asked from behind her.
It seemed the meeting was breaking up into several smaller ones, and so the Valkyrie had come over to investigate what had caught the Witch’s attention.
“Clint...” Milly said suddenly.
They all turned to her, most with puzzled expressions, though Nameless’s eyes widened as he realized what she meant.
Despite still being unnerved by the Witch, Nina crossed her arms over her breasts.
“What the hell is a ‘Clint’?”
“The guy that whipped Milly, and me. He was arrested, a couple times actually. Milly threw him off a bridge.” Nameless shifted his weight onto one foot as he remembered the details surrounding the unpleasant man; “After that Paul had, uh, words with him about how he had treated her. He gave me this to keep everyone’s hearts safe when we were looking for Volka.”
Olena nodded, her curiosity satisfied.
“A curse of misfortune, brought about by one’s own actions.”
“Guess that explains how he ended up buying an arena-fighting Minotaur that refused to fight in the arena. Didn’t you break both of his legs?” Erica asked a suddenly blushing Milly.
“Do you know where it came from though?” Nameless fretted; “Maybe I should give it back to whoever made it?”
Olena gave him a long look.
“We Witches are few in number, but we don’t all know one another.” He turned pink at her admonishing words as she continued; “It serves the Aegis now. That would be enough for whoever charmed it... probably.”
“Then why even bring it up?” Nina asked in exasperation.
She nearly folded in on herself though when Olena’s eyes found her and held her in place again.
The Witch smiled slowly, unnervingly, before reaching down and delicately pinching one of Nina’s ears and slowly rolling the tiny lobe between the pads of two fingers.
“You are... so very small. I could tuck you into my pocket, and no one would know.”
Abruptly she turned and walked away.
“What a bitch! She doesn’t even have pockets!” Erica protested in a strained whisper.
She was pretty sure the departing monster wouldn’t hear her, but didn’t want to take any chances.
Nina shuddered as the others looked to her with concern.
“Babe, are you alright?” Nameless asked worriedly.
She rolled her shoulders and oddly wiggled from side to side, trying to shake free from the unnerving feelings that the Witch Olena had so easily instilled in her.
When she couldn’t, she had to be honest to her man.
“That woman scares the hell out of me.” She admitted in a tiny voice, shamefaced.
Volka set her hand on Nina’s head, gently massaging her scalp as she watched the Witch head down the stairs.
“With good reason. The curses I have seen unfold on the battlefield were terrible to behold. And her people are as willful as yours.”
“But… she is going to help right?” Milly asked worriedly, not at all liking the effect that Olena had on her bond-sister.
The Gigas was supposed to be the scary one.
“We can only hope.” Volka pronounced as she shifted her hands to massage at Nina’s shoulders; “Suffice to say she will act however she deems necessary, and there is not one thing I could say that would sway her otherwise. In truth, we might never see her again.”
Chapter 44:
Ham amidst Crisis
The changes that came over the city in the following days were drastic.
Though it was still being used to house monster girls, the auction house was closed indefinitely. There was simply no feasible way of keeping it open in the wake of the attack.
And no longer were any of the higher ups in the Aegis trying to keep Nameless busy in another office somewhere; there were too many things that needed doing to worry about him, especially when it came to dealing with the injured and dead.
Although Nina, Milly, and Erica refused to leave his side, he worked mostly with Ophelia, her medical training on hold as the two of them helped deal with the physical and emotional fallout from the attack.
The humble young orphan never thought of himself as wise, but when it came to destructive emotions like survivor’s guilt, he was a pro, even when it came to humans.
Helping to ease the burden on the city was the arrival of the Longinus family, because no one understood logistics like an Antlion Queen. Just as Miranda had told Erica, their colonies were the largest of any of the insect breeds in terms of numbers, making even Oldeera’s hive seem tiny by comparison.
At Queen Julia’s suggestion, food was being collected and strictly rationed by the lawkeepers, while a tent-town sprang up in Divinity Square where the legions of Antlions had bivouacked alongside the temporary medical shelters.
All in all, the city was in a state of grim readiness, a mindset that stood at odds with the pleasant summer weather.
Playing guard duty outside of the medical tent where Nameless was helping Ophelia, Erica turned Milly’s braid over and over in her fingers to determine if it was salvageable.
Finally she shook her head.
“It’s no use lover. Evadne wrecked it.”
“I was afraid of that.” Milly sighed as she took the broken braid back; “Well then, I’ll just have to make another one from scratch!”
Erica snuggled up against her and began to purr, glad of the cow’s resilience.
“She’s wrecked a lot.” She remarked, casually twirling one of Kar’s knives around her knuckles.
She would never forge
t the look on Nameless and Milly’s face when they found each other again after they had faced the Chimera.
They’d all been through so much…
The purring stopped.
Milly lowed quietly and shook her head.
“Yeah, but we’re stronger now. Stronger than she is. And stronger than we were.”
Briefly the two reminisced about their shared history, about Brant, their asshole of an owner that brought them together only to tear them apart, and Erica’s time as a Tenebrae that resulted from it.
“We’re stronger now.” Milly repeated firmly, turning and hugging the Katje.
She didn’t let go until Erica was purring again, and when she did she pressed the broken braid back into the Katje’s hands.
“Here. Until I get a chance to redo it, why don’t you hold onto it? I’m sure Master won’t mind.”
Holding her bond-sister’s heartstone tight, Erica’s mood improved further and she kissed her on her adorably dimpled chin, then on her lips several times.
“You know, there is one good thing about this…” She began suggestively.
“What?” Milly’s eyes widened with innocent curiosity, while the Katje’s hooded with desire.
“I can find out what having your heart inside of me feels like.”
The Minotaur blushed, but retuned her smile.
“I’d really like that.” She promised; “Ooh, let’s use Ophelia’s too!”
Erica giggled, then let out a plaintive yowl at the thought.
“Ah man, we should stop talking about it. You’re making me too horny!”
Milly cheekily flicked at her bond-sister’s nose, only to have Erica counter by tweaking at one of her nipples through her shirt, drawing a resonating moo out of her.
But just before their mischief could stumble completely out of professional bounds, the Minotaur’s eyes boggled and her jaw fell open as she looked over Erica’s shoulder.
“Paul!” She blurted out in absolute astonishment.
With one mental foot already in the bedroom, Erica let out another little yowl at the sudden outburst and the change of direction it represented.
“Paul? What about Paul?”
“Howdy Moon-Pie.” The old farmer drawled from behind the Katje.
“Ah! Oh, okay! That about Paul!”
There they were: him and his Cockatrices standing amidst the medical tents, as if this was just another day in Kettering, though the city around them was hardly the same backdrop, especially with the rubble in the streets.
Milly was on him moments later, letting out an emotional bellow as she hugged him tight to her chest.
“Now now!” He laughed as he struggled to get free of her embrace, slightly flushed from her overt affection; “No need to lose your composure sweetheart. Lovin’ the hat by the way!”
She lowed again as she hugged him tighter to keep him from escaping.
At the outburst, both the vocal one and the emotional one, Nameless came out of the tent only for his jaw to fall agape.
“What are you doing here?” he finally sputtered, flabbergasted.
Finally managing to finally pull free of the teary-eyed Minotaur, Paul offered him a wry smirk.
“Hello to you to, my boy! Ophelia’s still working on your manners, eh?”
He offered his hand for Nameless to take, but once again was surprised when the young man hugged him around the middle almost as enthusiastically as Milly had.
“Tarnation!” He exclaimed; “You city-folk are too handsy for my tastes. Gitoff!”
Nameless released him quickly, surprised at his own response at seeing the old man after so long.
A moment later he was distracted though as a couple of the Cockatrices pressed against his legs, cooing and buffeting him gently with their wings in greeting.
He smiled down at them; his eyes stinging with nostalgia as he remembered helping Paul locate them so long ago after a nasty storm had wrecked their coop.
Meanwhile Erica likewise gave the farmer a hug, though much more composed than Nameless and Milly.
“They were worried about you.” She explained to the dear old farmer, quite a bit more in control of her emotions than the others, though she gave him a couple of tiny licks on the cheek; “Nobody has heard anything from Kettering in a while, we thought you went missing or something!”
Paul gave up on avoiding the hugs and patted her on the back, then shook his head, bemused at her leather outfit.
“Not missing. Hiding. Once we heard what happened to Lipton Falls I started hollerin’ at anyone who’d listen to skedaddle. Made a real nuisance of meself to Magnus and that block-head of an apprentice of his.”
Magnus was the lawkeeper in Kettering, but Nameless wasn’t sure what Paul was talking about: last he’d heard he didn’t have an apprentice.
“That must be why Cordelia never heard back from Tom.” He speculated, his brow furrowed.
Nina came out of the tent then, shortly followed by Ophelia.
“Oh hey, it’s the old guy. We like the old guy.” The Gigas remarked.
It was at that point that they noticed that Paul’s face wasn’t the only one they recognized from Kettering.
Standing amidst the mixture of Antlions, Cockatrices and medics, a great many people in the crowd were from the small farming town.
Brandon Dixon, wearing the uniform of a lawkeeper, was standing next to Magnus, who in turn looked a great deal thinner than Nameless remembered.
“We do like the old guy. But he still hasn’t answered the question!” Ophelia rebuked as she finished her own hug with Paul; “Why are all of you here?”
His face fell and he shook his head.
“Because we got to talk to the Aegis. Wayfelt…” The old man had to take a second, clearing the lump in his throat; “Wayfelt is gone. And a whole mess of angry monster girls are squatting where it used to be.”
__________
Because Paul told them about the destruction of the farming community within earshot of several dozen Antlions, their queens all knew about it, and through them so did the leaders of the Aegis.
So it wasn’t a surprise that they were soon back in the mess hall, though now it was filled with even more people as several of the prominent citizens in Kettering crowded inside.
Nameless spotted Tom Loskins and his daughter Helen and felt a sudden stab of embarrassment tinged with guilt when he remembered what he’d gotten up to with his other daughter Cordelia.
But he couldn’t dwell on his family circumstances long.
As the story went, Paul had taken the entire population of Kettering into the woods northwest of the town to camp out. The children thought it was a blast, but that’s because children aren’t very bright.
The weather was nice, and the fear coming from civilization was all too real for them to risk traveling far, not to mention they were burdened with Janet Skinner’s Blomma garden.
It was while they were hiding out in the woods that they witnessed Wayfelt fall.
“-could have been a lot worse.” Paul was saying; “Had some forewarning from a number of terrified Lamba, fleeing their farm as the Tenebrae swooped down on it. So they at least had a jump on running away. Most of ‘em got out in time.”
“Most?” Volka suggested, knowing she wouldn’t like the response.
The old man drew in a deep breath, and surprisingly had to wipe away a few tears.
“A dozen or so of the stouter folk took a stand, bought time for the monster girls to get the kids and old-timers out.”
Volka’s eyes closed briefly as she thought on their sacrifice.
But she had a job to do.
“And the Tenebrae are still there?”
“Yup. And with so many of them hunkering down so close to where we was hunkering, we figured it was high time we got somewhere with a proper roof. So you got half the population of two different towns waiting downstairs for someone to tell ‘em what in tarnation is happening.”
There was a
bunch of muttering from the other people from the towns in question; they’d mostly let Paul do the talking, seeing as he was their elder in every conceivable way, but their discontent was plain.
Silence gradually fell as the members of the Aegis and the assorted monster girls mulled over the fact that they didn’t have a good answer ready for their concerns.
“Why Wayfelt?” Dawn Morrow broke the deadlock; “We had an outpost there, but it isn’t that populated. So why there?”
“Because I grew up ten miles away.” Nameless spat out bitterly, speaking for the first time.
A number of heads turned towards him, curious, but it was Miranda that replied.
“We don’t know that kid, and even if we did this shit isn’t on you, so don’t even start.” She countered firmly.
He wheeled to face her, his jaw working as he tried to find the words.
But as much as he hated to admit that she was right.
The news from Wayfelt just hit a little too close to home, figuratively and literally.
“I must agree with Aegis Holt.” Alcaia proclaimed, Myrina and a couple of her senior warriors nodding at her side; “You are our Valkyrja-datta, and my daughter’s precious bond-mate. If this place fell to harm as a means to harm you, then you must stand firm against such vile cruelty while we take up arms to end it.”
She’d only very recently learned about Evadne, and she already wasn’t a fan.
Tiana nodded along with the other Amazons before speaking up.
“Our warleader has fallen into the Chimera’s grip, and terrible things has she wrought as a result of it, yet I bear no shame for it. If she is in Wayfelt, then I would end her suffering as well, one way or another.”
Volka spread her wings wide and silenced any further discussion with her aura, making it plain that she intended to speak.
“And I will not allow us to miss our chance to strike. However the Tenebrae came to be there, we have our target. We’ll need scouts in the air for an up-to-date report on Evadne’s forces. Until we have it, prepare everything and everyone that we have to face this threat.”
The meeting began to break apart as Volka’s orders were followed, though Paul stuck around, approaching Booker.
“I hope she’s counting us in that mix.” He said mildly as he filled his pipe; “Because there is only so much suffering folk will take afore they stop waiting around for someone to do something about it. Our lot might not have your training and your fancy lost-tech gizmos, but we’re here to help. And that is with or without your say so.”
The Heartstone Saga Page 39
